Fractal
by Starcrossd.sky
Summary: [not!KH3] "All the pieces lie where they fell." But with luck, they can pick themselves up again. If Sora won't do for a vessel, perhaps a fragment of him will.
1. Chapter 1

Note: Begins _immediately_ at the end of KH3D. Spoilers for 3D and whatever elements of X and anything else I decide to include. This is a not!KH3 fic. For quicker updates, you may wish to follow the version at Archive of Our Own.

* * *

It was sudden, like the falling of a stormcloud across the sky. Almost as one, the Dream Eaters went silent. The Meow Wow Sora was petting shifted and, with a squeak, attempted to hide behind him. Sora looked up, following the collective gaze of the Dream Eaters, even as some of the weaker ones took off into the ever-night of Traverse Town.

There were two figures on the wall, both black, barely visible against the sky. Sora recognized the shapes of them just before the one with tighter, slimmer sleeves conjured a gun and fired.

The rain of bullets fell around Sora as he drew his Keyblade and rolled out of the way across the square. The Dream Eaters around him shielded him, were punctured by crystalline bullets, and fell, littering the square with the dream pieces they were composed of. When most of the crowd was gone, the second figure descended, stepping over the fragments of dreams like they were so much trash.

Sora didn't wait for Saïx to drop his hood before bouncing off the walls to strike at him, Keyblade leading the charge. As he'd mostly expected, Saïx caught the attack with his usual massive weapon and flung Sora back. It was an attack that would have thrown Sora's back against the wall the first time they fought, but he _had_ gotten better. Sora landed instead with his feet on the wall, ready to spring back with another attack, but he didn't get the chance. Instead, he tumbled away from the bullets that rained on him from above, where Xigbar remained on the roof.

"Did you forget about me?" the man called, tauntingly, but Sora didn't have the breath to reply as he swung rapidly around a lamp post to redirect his attacks towards Saïx. Trying to catch up with Xigbar was useless, he knew; the best way to bring the sniper down was to reflect his own shots back at him, and that required staying still for much longer than was safe when Saix was crashing shockwaves across the ground.

Sora was more maneuverable, but Saïx was relentless, crossing the square like a force of nature with shockwaves and flung claymores, and Sora didn't seem to be the only one who had gotten stronger. There wasn't even a moon in Traverse Town's sky for Saix to draw power from, but he hit as hard as ever and the shockwaves he sent across the ground were, if anything, larger. It was quickly apparent that Sora could barely risk standing on the same ground as the man at all, his feet only touching the ground for brief, sometimes painful moments.

And the whole time there were bullets, herding Sora closer to Saïx whenever he tried to get some distance, though Xigbar certainly wasn't avoiding actually hitting Sora, either. Bullets ripped into his clothes, grazed off his limbs, no matter how much he tried to avoid them, and all the Cure magic in the world couldn't stop Sora from getting tired.

That, Sora realized, was probably their intention. Saïx could fight as he was for a long time; Xigbar, who was barely moving except to reload his weapons and occasionally change vantage points with a warp, could last even longer. And the only help he could call for was Dream Eaters, who got shot down practically as soon as they appeared.

He wanted to believe in his friends, but optimistic as Sora was, the odds of a second miraculous rescue were slim. There was no sign of any other life, not even when he was backed against the wall, Saïx approaching, Xigbar warping down from the rooftop. They were still separate people, but they moved oddly in sync, evidence of the hold that Xehanort had over them.

Saïx stepped back a little as Xigbar stepped forward. "If you'll do the honors."

"Think I will." The grin Xigbar was wearing was all him, though, nothing of Xehanort. Sora raised his Keyblade as steadily as he could in front of himself to attempt to defend, but to his surprise, Xigbar dismissed his guns and stood with his arms spread. "Hey look, kid, nothing up my sleeve - "

Sora braced - he wasn't sure for what, but a moment later he found out. The formation of a Keyblade in Xigbar's hand was all darkness, like a bullet shot from his wrist, leaving the shaft of the blade in its trail. It looked enough like his guns that there was no mistaking the wielder even if you saw the blade alone, and it made Sora's blood run cold to look at. Perhaps it was the teal eye on the crossguard of the blade, staring down the back of it so much like a sniper's scope.

"Whaddya think?" Xigbar asked. "Thought I'd save something special for the maiden voyage..." The good humor vanished in an instant, the tone of Xigbar's voice dropping. "And that's where you come in, isn't it?"

With no options but desperation, Sora charged, a wild rush to the door of the world and possible escape, an unfamiliar power taking hold of him as though he were a beam of light himself, bouncing around the square. "That's new!" Xigbar called, jovial again, as he and Saïx both dove out of the way. "For you, anyway."

He warped about the square, seemingly waiting for Sora to slow down, as inevitably happened all too quickly. The uncontrolled power of light left Sora further from the world entrance than where he started and disoriented enough that he barely got the chance to turn when Xigbar appeared behind him.

A thrust, and that Keyblade was inside him, the sniper's eye staring dead even with the crown pendant around Sora's neck, and he felt himself fragment, and something _inside_ him fragment, as Xigbar turned it (as though Sora himself were a giant lock) and pulled it clear.

His last thoughts, as his body failed to grip his heart and he felt himself floating away, went something like, _Sorry, guys, I really screwed it up this time._

* * *

After two days of having her ability with the Keyblade assessed, Kairi was given leave to do whatever she wanted for the day while Riku, Mickey, and Yen Sid stuck their heads together to discuss what they'd seen. Riku in particular hadn't seemed to know what to make of it, which Kairi had to admit made her a little bit smug. Lea, poor soul, had come back on the second day and was still nursing "payback for kidnapping" bruises even after the application of some rather strong Cure spells.

It was thinking of that that had led Kairi to what she wanted to do with her free day, and she'd eventually managed to beg Donald and Goofy (mostly Donald - Goofy was pretty agreeable) into taking her to Twilight Town. No one had told Hayner, Pence, and Olette that she and Sora were okay, she'd insisted stubbornly. Lea, also given the day to himself, had opted to remain behind.

Goofy had wanted to go with her, but he and Donald had had to take care of a few things themselves - Kairi insisted she would be fine, though, promising that she would stick to the public areas of the town until she found her friends. Yen Sid had thought it unlikely that Xehanort would strike again so soon, she reminded them.

And so that was how Kairi wound up on the streets of Twilight Town by herself, the unchanging afternoon sunlight making it impossible to tell the time. There surely had to be a way that the locals measured out the days - maybe she could ask. It was important to keep knowledge of other worlds a secret - Riku, Mickey, and Yen Sid had all impressed this upon her individually - but those three already knew, didn't they? So surely it would be fine.

Soon enough, she heard a voice - "Heeeeeeey!" And then others, more surprised - "Kairi?!" "You're okay!"

She turned and saw Hayner waving his arms about frantically from the entrance to an alley, Pence and Olette behind him with a bag of books and a more sedate wave respectively. Kairi grinned, waving back before running over to meet them.

"Hi guys," she said brightly as she met up with them - or at least with Hayner and Olette, Pence lagging a couple steps behind with the books clamped to his chest. "Sorry it took so long to come visit."

"Is Sora here with you?" Olette asked immediately, and Kairi had to shake her head.

"No, he's off on important Keyblade business," she answered with a laugh. "I know he would have wanted to see you guys, though."

"Too bad," Hayner said, with an exaggerated slump of his shoulders. "Man! I wanted a rematch!"

"We have homework," Pence reminded him gently, indicating the books.

"A rematch?" Kairi asked. Olette just sighed.

"You know Sora was here just after the Struggle Competition, right?" Kairi nodded, and the other girl went on, "Well, Hayner challenged him, later on, and got his butt handed to him - "

"I did not!" Hayner interjected.

"You kind of did," Pence agreed.

Olette sighed in exasperation at the interruptions. "Anyway, so Hayner's been itching for a rematch ever since." The look she gave Kairi was exactly the same as the one Selphie shot her sometimes when Tidus and Wakka were being unbearable with their ball game. Kairi stifled a giggle, supposing that some thing were just universal.

"Well," she said, "I'm not Sora, but you can fight me, if you want." Hayner's jaw practically dropped open, which just made Kairi beam. (Now even Donald couldn't say the day was a waste; he'd been the one lecturing her about training against different opponents, after all.)

"I can't fight a girl!" Hayner tried to protest, which seemed to entertain his friends more than anything. Kairi just put her hands on her hips.

"And why not? Scared I'll kick your butt, too?" She didn't get an answer to that, aside from the way Olette put her hands over her mouth to try and disguise her laughter. "And if I win, then you have to do your homework. No more complaining."

"Ugh, fine!" Now that he'd been wrangled into agreeing, though, Hayner was all energy. "But if I win, you have to tell us everything that happened after that guy dragged you off!"

"Deal," Kairi said with a smirk, and then followed Hayner down towards the sandlot, Pence and Olette trailing after them with amused expressions.

* * *

Kairi almost felt sorry for Hayner from the moment he put the foam sword in her hands - the kids on Destiny Islands fought with uncushioned wooden swords. Still, the time limit and point system of the struggle match were enough to keep her interested. She was used to just going until one party gave up, not something like this.

She was just trained enough to be able to tell the resulting difference in styles; Hayner was more sensitive to being hit, like she'd expected, but recovered quickly and struck fast before getting out of range again. They went a couple practice rounds before getting down to the fight that would settle the bet, both watching each other carefully while Pence kept score and Olette cheered from the sidelines.

Ultimately, Kairi chose to wait it out till the time was mostly gone, and she wound up being glad for the foam sword after all - the disarming strike she used on Hayner's hand was stronger than she'd thought it was, and he yelped hard as he dropped his weapon. Kairi didn't waste any time in landing a few more hits on his knee and shoulder before collecting her points, a few still scattered on the ground when the buzzer rang.

"Ow," Hayner complained, falling back to sit on the floor of the ring. "You didn't have to hit so hard!"

"That's what you get for saying girls can't fight," Olette said, climbing up to the ring to retrieve the fallen foam weapon. "Here, Kairi, I'll go put those away while Hayner licks his wounds."

"Thanks," Kairi said, handing it off to her before reaching down to help Hayner up. He made a dramatic sigh before taking it and letting her pull him up.

"Man, I lost, _and_ now I have to do homework," he said, promptly putting his hands up in front of his face when Kairi gave him a look. "I'm not complaining, I swear! Geeze, is everyone this good at fighting where you come from?"

"Pretty much," Kairi says with a laugh, as they drop from the ring back to street level. "We only had that and swimming to do when we were kids. Sandcastles get kind of boring after a while."

"So you live near a beach?" Pence asked, and Kairi just nodded in response. "Don't tell Olette that, she's always talking about how much she wants to go. She'll probably try to follow you home."

"Well, she's right!" Hayner said loudly as the girl in question came back into sight. "The beach is awesome! I'd go right now if I could."

"Telling Kairi about our failed beach trip?" Olette asked as she came back up. "We kept trying to go last summer, but it never seemed to work out..." She sighed. "I haven't been to the ocean since I was a little kid."

"Aw, come on, cheer up," Hayner told her. "It'll be summer again before you know it, right? We'll definitely go then. Sora and that Riku guy too, right?" he added, looking at Kairi.

"Right!" Kairi nodded with a smile. "I bet your beach is totally different from ours." She'd only really experienced a few worlds, and Twilight Town was the most like the Destiny Islands, but the two were still utterly different.

"Then it's a date," Hayner said, giving her a thumbs up. Then he looked a little sadly at Pence and Olette. "Okay, guys, lay it on me. What kind of essay do I have to struggle through tonight?"

"Actually, we decided to put it off and have a look at the old mansion," Olette said, with a glance at Kairi. (The look on Hayner's face at the words was nearly enough to send Kairi into a fit of giggles.) "Your timing's really good - they fixed the old crack in the wall before we could go back and explore, so we had to find another way through."

"Or rather, Seifer and his gang found it for us," Pence added. "They came back scared once they realized where they were, though. The rumours about the ghost are going around again."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Hayner said. Kairi could only nod along, a little nervous, but excited all the same.

* * *

She'd only heard a little about the old mansion from Sora and Riku, mostly the latter, but the walk through the woods was strangely familiar. She knew which way to turn even before the others did, but let them lead anyway, until the trees parted to reveal brick walls and metal gates. Then she rushed forward heedlessly across the little bit of open ground, putting her hands to the iron bars.

"So that's the place, huh?" she said as the others caught up with her.

"Yeah. Sora went into the computer there, and..." Pence rubbed the back of his head. "I don't really get it, honestly. I guess there's a data world that held a pathway he needed."

"Weird to think about," Hayner said, coming to stand up beside Kairi and peer through the bars as well. "I mean, a whole world made out of nothing but data? Sounds like something out of the stories."

Kairi found herself wondering, a little, what stories Twilight Town had about the split of the worlds, but she resolved that that would have to wait until later. "It must be real, though." Or at least as real as the other data worlds in the universe, like the one Mickey had told her about deep within a journal. "Otherwise he wouldn't have been able to get to the World that Never Was."

"Weird name for a world," Hayner commented, jumping her out of her half-reverie. "Come on! We're not going to find anything out by standing around at the gate." He shoved at his side of of the metal bars, and the gate swung inward with a somewhat distressing rattle. Pence followed him through the gap, leaving Kairi and Olette to look at each other and roll their eyes before following.

The inside of the mansion was mostly dark, only a bare minimum oflights, enough that they didn't trip. Olette dug a tiny emergency flashlight out of her pocket and Pence a larger one out of his bag, and they passed them around to whoever most needed the light as they searched. Whenever the others had the lights, Kairi swore that she would see flashes of white out of the corners of her eyes. _Naminé?_ she almost called out once, before remembering that she wasn't there alone.

"You keep looking like you're expecting a real ghost to pop out," Pence commented at one point, as the four of them together moved a table out from in front of a door.

"Something like that," she said awkwardly, and resolved to try and not be so obvious about it.

* * *

The halls underneath the mansion, full of empty pods, gave Kairi the chills more than anything. She wasn't the only one, either - all four of them were pretty uncomfortable, but Kairi insisted on going all the way down to the room at the end of the hall, completely bypassing the computer that seemed to hold the attention of the others entirely.

The massive pod hanging in front of her was so incredibly familiar that she couldn't stop the words from slipping out, oh-so-quietly. "This is where Sora slept."

The other three exchanged weird looks as she shook her head, fighting off the strange memories. "Sorry," she said.

"You really do have to tell us the whole story sometime," Olette said as Hayner finished circling the pod.

"Someday," Kairi promised, hoping that she could. Hoping that someday she would know all of it, instead of snatched bits and fragments of someone else's memories.

"Come on," Pence said, trying to add some cheer back to the group. "There's still one more room!"

It was a room of white full of memories, with drawings, carefully sketched, littering the table, the walls, even the floor. Kairi barely glanced at them, even as the others expressed shock over the contents - Sora was the most common feature of them, along with Kairi herself and a figure she knew to be Riku even if none of the others did. Instead, as though in a trance, she walked over to the window, standing just out of sight behind the curtain.

 _How many hours did I spend here waiting?_ she found herself thinking, but, no - it was Naminé who had been waiting for so long. And for what? Not for Riku, Kairi knew that, but for someone else. She shook her head, and forced herself to look at the ground outside the mansion with her eyes, instead of memories.

What she saw had her running back out of the room in a panic, Keyblade half-formed and in her hand before she was fully aware of it. "There's someone on the ground outside the gate!" she called over her shoulder as the only explanation, and the trio she left behind dropped the pictures and tailed after her, Pence just as quick on his feet as the others when there was a crisis at hand.

The figure had been just a little familiar, before, but he was moreso on the ground, in a way that made Kairi's heart stop for reasons she couldn't explain. She'd only met him so briefly, knew him just in the shadows of her heart -

 _You're that girl he likes._

She stopped dead, Keyblade held out, even as Hayner barely slid to a stop behind her in time to avoid crashing. "Whoa!" he yelled.

"Hey," Olette said behind them. "Isn't that..."

 _Is this who you were waiting for, Naminé?_

"Yeah - " That was Pence, in the rear but not by much, as they all crowded around Kairi, none seemingly willing to try and pass by her or her Keyblade. "That's Roxas."


	2. Chapter 2

The voices above him had started to gain distinct qualities - two boys and two girls, all somewhat familiar - but Roxas couldn't quite understand what they were saying. His head hurt. His chest hurt. He rolled over slowly, with a groan, and opened his eyes to stare up at a familiar pink-and-orange sky beyond the limbs of the trees.

A head leaned into his view, with crinkled blond hair, and then another, with dark pink hair hanging around her face. "Roxas?" the girl said. "Are you okay?"

Kairi. That was her name. How had he forgotten? Roxas slowly sat up, rubbing at his head as he tried to place the rest of the faces around him. Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Right. He remembered them, in the data town, but these weren't the same people.

Somehow, he didn't feel any disappointment in that. He didn't feel much of anything about the idea at all. He dropped his hand away from his head and looked up at Kairi. "I don't know," he said. "Everything's fuzzy."

Her expression was still very concerned. "Can you stand?" she asked, reaching out a hand to help him up. Roxas took it, and found himself hauled to his feet with unexpected strength. He wobbled a little before catching his balance, not exactly helped by the way Hayner clapped him on the shoulder as soon as he was on his feet.

"In the flesh! Nice to finally meet you, man," Hayner said, and Roxas just kind of nodded absently. Right. They didn't know what it represented, that he was here, that he existed without Sora...

Kairi did. Kairi, Roxas thought, looked scared. "Is Sora..." Her question trailed off, but Roxas grasped at her meaning anyway.

His nod was firmer, this time. "He's gone," he answered, seeing Kairi flinch but unable to attach it to any kind of reaction. "Xigbar and Saix..." He pressed a hand to his chest, remembering the pain of the separation, the urgency of Sora's thoughts. Even if things were kind of disjointed in his head, Roxas knew how important it was. "Xigbar has a Keyblade now. He was the one who did it."

"What's going on?" Hayner asked, as Kairi nodded and closed her eyes, her face tilting towards the ground.

"Did something happen to Sora?" Olette added, right on the tail of her friend's question. Roxas guessed that no one had really explained to them what it meant, when a Nobody existed.

"He's lost his heart," Kairi answered quietly, and that put the other three to silence. She looked back up at Roxas. "We need to go back to Yen Sid's. Right now."

"But how are you going to get there?" Olette asked, looking between Kairi and Roxas. "I mean, it's not like either of you can just go to another world whenever you want, right? You need a ship, or one of those portal things..."

"I might be able to manage a dark corridor," Roxas said quietly. "But it's been a long time, and I've never been to the Tower myself before..." Sora's memories of it were fuzzy at best in his head, and unlike most of the others in the Organization, Roxas had never quite gotten the hang of directing a corridor to somewhere he'd only heard about.

Kairi looked surprised (they all looked surprised), but then shook her head. "Maybe as a last resort," she said.

"What about the train?" Pence said. "You know, the weird purple one?"

"Hey, yeah!" Hayner grinned. "That's how Sora left the first time we met - it's worth a try, right?"

"The ghost train," Roxas said, remembering. Why had it appeared in the data town in the first place? Something to wonder about later. "Let's go to the station."

"Right." Kairi seemed to draw herself up a bit, determination all over her face. She looked at Roxas then, as though to comfort him, and took his hand in hers. Roxas let her. "We'll make this better."

Roxas didn't know how to answer that. Being whole was pleasant, but he couldn't affect the world that way. It was that that made him not exist, more than anything about being a Nobody.

But the world needed Sora, not him. So he nodded and let Kairi tug him along towards the station anyway, the others following along behind them.

* * *

Roxas knew the town better than Kairi, almost better than the three friends who had lived their entire lives there - one of the first things the Organization had impressed on him during missions was don't be seen, and so he knew all the back corners and hiding place in the town, and even just how to not be notable in his surroundings. Getting pulled along by Kairi - who had no concerns for such things, and wouldn't let go of his hand, as though afraid he was going to disappear the same way Sora had - was almost a completely different experience.

There were a few places that had no hiding places, though, and the plaza in front of the train station was one of them. Roxas stopped long enough there to look up at the clock tower balcony, almost expecting to see... What? Not Axel, certainly.

Lea, Roxas reminded himself faintly as Kairi turned to look at where he was stopped. It's Lea now. He's whole. He had been there, sort of, because Sora had been there, but it was like knowing a fact someone had told him while he was half-asleep. It didn't fit into the world quite yet.

(He should have been happy. His best friend had finally gotten what he wanted after so long. But Roxas couldn't feel glad about it. Maybe it was because Axel had had to die for it to happen, and even if "Axel" and "Lea" weren't as different as he and Sora were, surely there had to be some difference.)

"Roxas? Are you okay?" That was Olette, leaning towards him with some concern and a hand in front of her mouth.

"I'm fine," he said. "Just... No, nevermind." How could he explain it? There was something important that had happened here, in a fuzzy gap in his memory. Unlike Sora's, Roxas' locked away memories had returned on their own; there must still have been pieces missing, ones that wouldn't return without Namine's gentle, sketching hands.

Maybe he could talk to Kairi about that, later.

"Then don't just stand there!" Kairi was impatient, now, a worried look on her face as she followed Roxas' glance up at the top of the clock tower.

"Right. Sorry."

They went inside, bypassing the ticket stands to odd looks from the people manning the counters, and - "Look, there it is!" Hayner said loudly, pointing unnecessarily at the single violet train car pulled up at the first set of tracks, the ones intended for train maintenance that didn't actually go anywhere, under normal circumstances.

The door of it slid open as they approached. The only other person in the train station, a young woman in a brown coat with a bag over her shoulder, didn't even glance in their direction. Roxas wondered absently if she could see the train at all.

"Someday," Hayner said, looking at the train with something like longing. "Someday I'm going to ride that thing as far as it'll go."

"Not without us, you aren't!" Olette protested, Pence echoing agreement. Kairi, about to step onto the train, turned and smiled at them. Roxas couldn't bring himself to look.

"Someday," she said to them, a promise in her voice, and Roxas shouldered past her into the train, taking a seat under one window. He was the outsider there, and weren't Keybearers supposed to protect the barriers between worlds? (Not that he had any room to talk about that, but he hadn't known anything but what Xemnas and the others in the Organization told him...)

His thoughts kept racing in that direction until the train started to move. Kairi stood waving at the window for a moment before coming over and sitting next to him. Roxas looked up when she took his hand in hers. "We'll work this out," she said brightly, and he could tell the good cheer in her voice was covering her real worry. "So cheer up."

Roxas couldn't.

* * *

"Good to have you back, kid."

Beneath his mask, Vanitas narrowed his eyes at Xigbar, not at all entertained by the man's antics. Silver hair seemed to be the only sign of the passage of time, and Vanitas couldn't be sure that it was due to age. Becoming his master's vessel had lightened Terra's hair from its hopelessly generic brown, after all, and though Xigbar wasn't a complete vessel the way Terra was, he was further along than any of the others.

As Braig, the man had gotten on Vanitas' nerves frequently. As Xigbar, it was no different. The masked boy slid out from under the arm that had been thrown over his shoulders. This didn't dissuade Xigbar's cheerful friendliness in the slightest.

"Geez, lighten up! Your face is going to get stuck like that someday, you know." Only the brief encounter with the fragment of his master earlier - Xemnas, the man was calling himself, the one who had Terra's body - kept Vanitas from striking out with Unversed or Keyblade. "Or maybe it already has?" Xigbar leaned in close, his one yellow eye peering into the black reflection of the mask as though he could see something.

Vanitas growled. "Shut up." Short and to the point. He could work with Xigbar if the man kept his mouth shut. "And don't touch me."

Xigbar at least stepped back, though his arms were held up and wide in a gesture of dismay. "Hmph, kids these days. You could at least pretend to be grateful to me for waking you up."

Why should he be grateful? It wasn't as though it had actually been the man's own idea. (And it had hurt, almost as much as getting split the first time, like a bone re-breaking along the same crack. A little pain escaped him then, but since this time, his master wasn't interested in the Unversed, Vanitas didn't pay attention to where it went.) Vanitas didn't express any of these thoughts, staying safely behind the mask that kept the world away from him.

Silence hung for a moment, before another voice interrupted - "Are you quite done?"

Vanitas turned his head towards the voice as Xigbar dropped his arms. Long blue hair and a scarred face... This must be Saïx, then. One of the younger and, apparently, less willing vessels. Like Xigbar, he was wearing that almost-familiar black coat, and had a second one hung over his arm, which he held out to Vanitas as he approached.

"Here." His voice was as close to emotionless as it was possible to get, Vanitas noted as he took the held-out coat and held it up. It wasn't brand new, but a little worn at the cuffs and lower hem.

It was the first time he'd actually been given clothes by his master, even by proxy, since the split. Always before, the suit of wrapping Darkness had been adequate. Vanitas wasn't sure what it said that he was now being given the uniform of his master's vessels, but he knew better than to complain.

He shrugged it on, the long bottom coming to rest around his ankles as he zipped it up. The weight on his shoulders was a novel sensation, at least, though as in the whole of this castle outside of normal existence, there was something nostalgic about it. The magic of the coat gave him the rest of the uniform, high black boots and flexible leather gloves.

"Gonna take that helmet off?" Xigbar asked him, clearly prodding for a reaction. Vanitas considered a moment, then pulled the hood up before dismissing the helmet and what was left of his suit. "Oh, come on," Xigbar started to complain, but was cut off by Saïx clearing his throat.

It was small satisfaction, but it was potent, given how many irritations Xigbar had caused Vanitas to release into the world. The depths of the hood weren't quite as good as hiding him as the mask, but they would do well enough.

"Now, then," Saïx began, once Vanitas had fully settled into the coat. "You've been given a new mission." Vanitas tensed, immediately all-too-aware of the failure of his last mission, the reason he had existed in the first place. But as Saix continued to speak, that tension bled off into the darkness between worlds, and a kind of confidence took its place.

It was a simple mission, really, and straightforward after the experience he had with Eraqus' apprentices. Vanitas allowed himself a small smirk, under the folds of his hood. Perhaps redeeming himself to his master wouldn't be so difficult after all.

* * *

All Yen Sid was willing to say was that something had happened, and they needed to remain at the Tower until Kairi returned. Lea paced, with agitation too new to quash down, around the room off to the side of the wizard's study. Riku - leaning against the wall where he could look out the window at the tracks that had appeared when Yen Sid sent off his magical train to fetch Kairi - didn't seem much less inclined to take off and investigate.

Things were probably fine, Lea tried to remind himself, as he crossed in front of Riku again. He was just reacting too strongly to the anxiety after not feeling anything for years; it had happened with several other emotions in the last few days. But it was small comfort when Riku was just as obviously worried.

"Train's here," the teenager said, quite suddenly, and Lea immediately sprinted across the room to all but hang his head out the window for a better look. Sure enough, the purple train was just pulling to a stop at the edge of the grass in front of the tower. Riku, coming to the window at a more sedate pace, elbowed him in the ribs until he scooted over enough that they could both see.

Kairi was the first to step out of the train, obvious by her hair color. She got a few steps out and then turned to stop and look back at the train, apparently awaiting for someone else, who dragged his feet a bit more exiting the train car.

Lea saw the blond hair and white jacket, and felt that his heart would yank itself out of his chest if he looked much longer. He turned away from the window, a hand on his chest as he tried to calm his breathing.

Roxas. There was no way that Lea could have not recognized him, even if he was as identical to Ventus as Mickey had said. (There was a vague, fuzzy memory there, as there always was, one of a deep nostalgia that predated Roxas' very existence.) He knew Roxas, as nobody else did. They were best friends, regardless of the fact that Nobodies shouldn't have been able to form friendships.

All of the emotions of those times, the things that he had almost-felt and should have felt, crashed over him like a waterfall. Lea leaned against the wall, vaguely nodding to Riku's "Are you okay?" and trying not to sag onto the floor. He was aware of Riku stepping out into the main room - giving him some privacy Lea was certainly glad of - at about the same time the tears started to fall.

Roxas was here. That couldn't mean anything good for Sora, he knew with the part of his brain that wasn't too wrapped up in feeling, but Lea couldn't care for the moment. He slid down and sat until he could breathe regularly and the tears were under control. He was supposed to be the grown-up, he couldn't look like a mess in front of the kids.

He cracked the door open and listened to the explanations that were already happening in Yen Sid's study; Roxas describing his disjointed memories of what had happened to Sora, Kairi talking about finding him in the front of the Twilight Town mansion. Just like the last time, Lea thought to himself. At least Roxas seemed way less out of it than he had been immediately after being "born." His expression was a little blank, but his eyes looked alert, as much as Lea could see through the crack in the door without giving himself away before he was ready.

The discussion slowed - Kairi started glancing around to the sides. Lea realized that she was probably looking for him, and figured that was as much a cue to make his entrance as anything. "Looking for me?" he said, swinging the door open with what he hoped was a confident grin on his face.

Kairi looked like she was thinking about hitting him, which was roughly the effect he'd intended (cheering her up to get her mind off Sora was the least he could do). Roxas didn't look like he was thinking at all, his eyes briefly going wide and his posture going still. He reached up a hand towards his chest, as though in pain.

"Axel?" His voice seemed uncertain.

"It's Lea, now," Lea corrected, stepping around Yen Sid's desk and past Riku to swing an arm over Roxas' shoulder. The body under the jacket was firm and real, easing a worry Lea hadn't even realized he had, that his hand would go right through Roxas if he tried to touch the boy. "But just this once, I'll let it slide."

"I..." Roxas looked up at him and blinked, before sliding out from under Lea's arm in order to face him in front of the desk. He took a step back, and Lea felt like something in his heart could crunch. Maybe Roxas hadn't entirely forgiven him, for the things that had caused him to leave the Organization in the first place. Lea had thought he had, in that half-dream encounter where they'd said goodbye, but he of all people knew that death could erase a lot of hurts that the living wouldn't forgive.

"I should be happy, right?" Roxas' voice was quiet, and the hand in front of his chest opened slightly before closing tightly into a fist. His eyes were the same blue as Sora's and they had the same look of questioning, begging answers that Lea had seen so many times before. "You're here. So why do I just feel... blank?"

The words snapped like a rubber band in Lea's head, with a sickening familiarity. He'd said almost the same thing, once, to a Saïx who wasn't yet called Saïx, because neither of them had understood what had happened to them. Why do I feel so empty?

Xemnas had found them, and Xemnas had told them. He'd told Roxas, too, but Roxas never seemed to absorb it in the same way that the rest of the Organization did. Lea had always thought that it was because Roxas didn't have any memories, so he couldn't understand the difference between feeling and not feeling.

But, it seemed, that hadn't been the case at all. And compared to this, Lea would have preferred, infinitely, that Roxas hadn't forgiven him, that his best friend was still angry at him.

Roxas was still looking at him, blankly, as though Lea had the answer. Behind him, Kairi seemed to have come to the same realization Lea had, one hand half-over her mouth in shock and horror. The mouse king was on that side, too, his eyes wide for a moment before he closed them, his ears drooping downwards.

But it was nothing like how Lea felt, because he was the only one in the room who knew, really knew, the gaping emptiness that the world held for Roxas right now. This time, he didn't bother trying to stop the tears once they started, or even wipe them away.

That was what he got, he supposed, for thinking that for once, he'd gotten lucky.


	3. Chapter 3

Everything hung quiet after Roxas' questions, until Lea's tears broke down into sobbing as newly returned, too-strong emotions overtook the man. Maybe it would have happened anyway, though, considering how devastated the man looked as Riku herded him to a chair in the corner. Between this and the news of Sora, everyone in the room seemed depressed, except for Yen Sid, who was thoughtfully stroking his beard.

"I don't understand," Mickey said softly, as Riku came back around the front of the desk. Kairi slipped past him, taking only a moment to squeeze Riku's hand on her way around to sit beside Lea. Even if the two of them were still on shaky ground, it was like her to go offer what comfort she could. "Wasn't Roxas already a Nobody?"

The blond boy was still standing where he had been, though his eyes were on Lea and Kairi, until Yen Sid spoke.

"Perhaps not," the old Keyblade Master began. "The heart of Ventus slept within Sora. It is what gave him the Keyblade, and its influence on Roxas is obvious." Riku couldn't speak to that, never having seen Ventus, but Mickey nodded after a glance in Roxas' direction. "In this case, it may have been that Roxas was keeping that heart all along, and so was never a true Nobody. It would explain several oddities, including his ability to use the Keyblade, a weapon which relies on the strength of a person's heart."

It made sense enough to Riku. Mickey looked at Roxas with clear worry; Roxas was staring at his hand, and didn't seem to notice. He was opening and closing his fingers, as though trying to grip a weapon. No doubt the same thing had occurred to him as was occurring to Riku then.

If Roxas had only been able to summon the Keyblade because of Ven's heart, and he was truly a Nobody now...

"What about Ven?" Mickey asked, coming up closer to the desk. Of course; Ven was his friend too, and Mickey always worried about his friends. After what Mickey had told them about what happened to Eraqus' apprentices, Riku couldn't blame him for it, either. "Is he okay?"

"If Ventus' heart is not with Roxas, then I can only hope it has found its way back to its true owner," Yen Sid said evenly. "Mickey, you should go to Castle Oblivion immediately. If his heart returns, I imagine he will wake soon, if he has not already."

Mickey nodded. "Then I guess I'd better get going, huh? Though, I'm worried about Sora too..." He looked at Roxas, and then at Riku, almost like he was asking permission.

Riku nodded. "Go," he said. "You're the one with the best chance of finding him. Let me worry about Sora." Mickey brightened, and nodded in return, turning to hurry out the door.

"You mean let us worry about Sora," Kairi corrected as the King left, straightening from her position next to Lea. The man had at least gotten control over his wild emotions enough to stop crying, though his expression was still pained.

"No," Yen Sid said, standing and turning towards her. "You are not ready, and neither is Lea. Both of you will remain here to train, if Riku intends to seek Sora's lost heart." The end of the sentence was accompanied by a look in Riku's direction, as though to be sure that was what he really wanted to do. Riku was surprised at first, that Yen Sid was allowing him to make that decision - but then, he was a Master himself now, wasn't he? Masters chose their duties.

He could choose this. Riku glanced around - at Kairi's mutinous look at Yen Sid's back, at Lea wiping his eyes on one leather sleeve, and at Roxas, who was watching him intently. Sora needed him, but so did Kairi and Lea, who needed a teacher, and if Roxas couldn't summon his Keyblade...

"I need to think about it," Riku said, feeling the weight of responsibility on his shoulders.

"Just go." It was to his surprise that Roxas spoke up. The blond had been quiet since Lea's tears began, seemingly lost in his own world, but the look he gave Riku was full of... Determination? That didn't seem right, somehow, knowing that Roxas couldn't feel anything. Pure will, then, but it looked so much like determination that it didn't make a difference. Riku blinked at him, but Roxas continued, "You were willing to do anything to bring him back before. Why is this different?"

Because last time, I thought Kairi was safe, Riku thought. Because last time, I didn't have anything else to worry about. He couldn't bring himself to say that to Roxas, though. Roxas was the one who had been hurt by Riku's determination, then, even though Riku had thought of himself as the one making a sacrifice. He hadn't really thought of Roxas as a person until they had fought, on the streets of that dark city.

Roxas was giving him the same look now that he had then, except that it didn't quite reach his eyes. Riku sighed. "Okay. I'll go." He glanced at the rest of the room; Yen Sid seemed a little approving, and Kairi still looked angry at being left behind again. "I'll bring him back. I promise."

"I know you will," Kairi answered. "But that doesn't mean I'm happy about you leaving me behind again." The anger in her expression faded, but she still looked stern.

Riku tried to smile. He thought he probably failed pretty badly at it. "Well, someone has to keep an eye on these two." He accompanied it with a distinct look in Lea's direction as the man rose out of his chair, and then sweeping his eyes over Roxas (who folded his arms) to include him in the statement.

"Hey, I told you, my trouble-causing days are over," Lea protested, his voice surprisingly light for someone who had spent most of the last half hour crying. "It's all light, goodness, and well-timed rescues from here on out."

"Well-timed?" Roxas shot at him, seemingly unable to stop himself. "More like 'at the last possible moment.'"

"That's well-timed, isn't it?" Lea crossed the room quickly in an attempt to grab Roxas and ruffle his hair, but Roxas dodged out from under his arm as though he'd been expecting it.

Their banter seemed to have the effect Riku had been hoping to have on Kairi himself, as the girl seemed to cheer a bit and actually smiled at him. "You're right," she said. "They do need a handler."

Riku was able to smile back at her more genuinely this time, and turned to Yen Sid, just in case the old Master had any advice for him before he left. From the way Yen Sid folded his hands into his sleeves, it seemed he did. "Sora's heart has mostly likely gone among the Heartless," he began. "Though you have a unique connection to Sora's heart after entering his dreams, the darkness that it dwells within can still harm you. Be certain to take adequate protection."

Riku had only begun to nod when there was a loud sound of fabric from behind him. A black coat hung from Lea's hand as the man practically dropped it into Riku's arms. "Here. I'm not going to get much use out of it sitting around here."

Riku blinked, taking the coat and sliding it on. "Thanks." The sleeves were more fitted than his old one's, and the hem was a bit longer, but the magic built into the coat soon adjusted it to a comfortable size. It was well-worn, though not as well-worn as the clothes Lea had on underneath it; the orange shirt was almost too small and looked like it was about to fall apart, and the jeans weren't much better. Only the checked scarf seemed at all new, and Riku didn't need to glance at Roxas' clothes to guess why.

It felt a little strange, to have the coat and not the blindfold. He hadn't dressed like this since shortly after leaving Castle Oblivion. When he looked up from fiddling with the zipper, Kairi was looking him over. She caught his eye and then made a loud hmm.

"Still missing something," she said, and before Riku could protest, put her hands up to the back of her neck and unclasped the pendant she always wore. Riku stared. He'd never seen her take it off, since the day she arrived at the islands; she even wore it to bed.

But now she was leaning forward and putting it around his neck, so that the little bit of clear glass hung right between the sides of the hood as it hung over his shoulders. "There," she said, looking pleased as she withdrew her hands. One finger paused on the pendant. "When I was a little girl, someone I met put a spell on this. She said that when I was in danger, it would take me to somewhere with a great light. Somewhere I would be safe."

Riku looked up from the pendant to her. Kairi winked at him. "I know it's not exactly a lucky charm, but try to bring it back to me anyway, okay?"

"Okay," Riku said, and then hesitated only a breath before adding, "I promise." Kairi seemed satisfied with that, and stepped away from him.

It was as ready as he was going to get, Riku supposed. He gave a slight bow to Yen Sid, a nod to Lea and Roxas, and then turned for the door.

He'd find Sora, and this time, he'd bring him back to stay.

* * *

How long she had been walking, she didn't know. That beach had been a safe place, seemingly, a place to stop and rest for a time. She'd slept soundly, watched over by the man in the black coat, for the first time in a long time. Even if time had had meaning, she wouldn't have known how long she slept.

But she couldn't wait at the shore forever. And so, when her body was rested and her heart filled again with hope - Sora, she said the name to herself again, like a talisman - Aqua picked up her Keyblade and walked on.

She was a Keyblade Master, perhaps the only Master of the light left. She couldn't just sit waiting.

A sound, at her back, familiar but unheard for years, however long she had wandered this place. A kind of scratching against the air as the blue shape leapt at her, red eyes gleaming -

But these weak Unversed were no match for a Keyblade Master, in any circumstance. Aqua sliced it with her Master's Keyblade, felling it in one blow, and then stared at the spot on the path it had appeared from. No others appeared, but one was enough, when there shouldn't have been any at all, even here in the deepest darkness.

Even as hope had brightened her heart, fear clutched at it now. "Ven," Aqua whispered, and, without a second thought, turned and ran back for the beach.

She wouldn't let the darkness take one of her friends. Not ever again.

* * *

Riku and the King had left a week ago, and as much as Kairi tried to be patient, she really did wish one or the other would return already. Until then, she supposed, she would have to accept the routine that had been established, however unhappily.

Donald and Goofy had returned not long after Riku had left, and the two of them had done the bulk of her and Lea's training, Yen Sid only stepping in to assist in the theoretical aspects. For practical matters, she had Sora's friends, and Lea, to spar against and grow her abilities. And she was growing stronger, and Lea could almost summon the Keyblade every time now, only rarely calling up flame-ringed chakrams instead, usually when Donald had first dragged him out of bed.

Roxas was around, too. He hadn't had anywhere else to go, and Yen Sid didn't want to risk Xehanort doing anything to him (anything further, rather, if you counted what had happened to Sora). He mostly watched the sparring sessions on the lawn from the steps beside the door, opening and closing his hand around a Keyblade that wouldn't answer his call.

Kairi had thought that it must have hurt, to see them practice when he couldn't, but Roxas assured her that it didn't. Kairi, in turn, had asserted that it would hurt if he could feel anything - and rather than getting angry at her, the way she expected, Roxas just looked at her blankly for a moment before nodding.

She'd apologized, afterwards. Even if he couldn't feel bad because of the things she said, she still hurt from saying them. Roxas had looked at her for a moment before pointing out that he couldn't really forgive her, either.

Even if he technically couldn't feel, he seemed depressed. Lea assured her that that wasn't what he was usually like, what he used to be like, and Kairi had seen some of that side of him, when the memory of emotion got the better of him.

Roxas and Lea ate ice cream on the steps every evening after training, watching the sun set. Donald and Goofy seemed afraid to interrupt them, and Kairi couldn't bring herself to do so, either. It was at those times that Roxas seemed the most like a normal person.

It was getting to be almost that time now, and Kairi was looking forward to taking advantage of the shower while Lea was distracted - not that he ever peeked, but once he was in the bathroom, it sometimes took hours to drag him back out again. Roxas had told her, in one of his more human moods (Kairi tried to not think of them that way, but that was what they were) that the only way to get him out of the shower in the Organization was just to wait and hope the hot water ran out quickly. Kairi, dismayed, had told him that the magic of Yen Sid's tower meant they never ran out of hot water, and somehow it had ended in Lea, with a towel wrapped around his hair, sticking his head out of the bathroom to find out why the two of them were laughing.

Kairi liked Roxas, when he was being like a human and not a chilly cloud watching her from the tower steps. But right now he was the cloud, looking at her like she was a puzzle to figure out while Donald tried to teach her magic.

"Aw, don't feel bad, Kairi," he was saying, trying to comfort her after her latest failure with the light magic that was the signature of the rulers of Disney Castle. Pearl was a spell of Mickey's invention, and Minnie had sent the scrolls back to the tower with Donald and Goofy in the hopes that Kairi would be able to learn it. Supposedly, it was a spell that required a great deal of light in one's heart to use - something Kairi wasn't at all lacking in, even if Donald sometimes seemed to be. "I can't do it either."

Kairi sighed. "Thanks, Donald," she said, trying to make it sound more genuine than it felt. Across the yard, Lea had managed to block one of Goofy's spinning attacks that usually gave him trouble. Maybe another read of the scroll would help, she decided. She'd only read it twice, and the first time she'd skimmed through it so quickly she couldn't really remember anything. (But, really, she didn't think she'd be able to do it without someone who knew how already. Maybe she could convince Donald and Goofy to take her the next time they went to the Castle, so Minnie could teach her.)

But when Kairi went over to the pile of scrolls on the staircase, the one she was going for was already in someone's hands. Roxas was squinting at it, his mouth doing the same twisty thing Sora's did when he was concentrating too hard, but he looked up when he heard her coming over. "...Sorry, I guess you need this," he said, rolling the scroll up and offering it back to her.

Kairi took it without looking at it. "Can you do any magic?" she asked after a moment. Lea had known a wide variety of Fire spells, and a few other basic elements; he said that every Nobody had had an element they were so skilled at that it was almost second nature to them. Kairi couldn't help but wonder what Roxas' was.

"A little." Roxas shrugged. "Mostly light magic, but nothing like that. Beams are easier."

Kairi stared at him for a moment, before jumping on the opportunity that had presented itself. "Show me."

"I've never done it without a Keyblade - " Roxas started, so Kairi shoved the hilt of hers into his face, ignoring Donald's squawk of protest. It washer Keyblade, she could lend it to whoever she wanted. Maybe it would somehow help him over his broodiness.

Roxas nodded and closed his hands over the grip, taking a few steps forward into the clear space in front of the stairs. Kairi took the seat he'd abandoned, bouncing with excitement. Being able to see someone do the magic was one of the things that really helped her learn, and even if Roxas just did the beams of light that he said were easier, Kairi was sure it would help.

Across the yard, Lea and Goofy had stopped in their sparring to watch as well. Lea gave her a funny look before putting his attention back on Roxas. The blond had turned to face the stairs again; if he was self-conscious because of the number of people looking at him, there wasn't any sign of it. Maybe it was another thing he couldn't feel.

"Light's kind of like Thunder magic," he was saying. "It doesn't like to just stay in one place, so it's more like you're directing it rather than summoning it." Kairi nodded. That made sense, especially if light magic mostly came from a person's heart the way Mickey's scroll had said. You weren't creating it, you just had to guide it out of you.

Roxas didn't seem to know what to say beyond that, so after a moment he lifted her Keyblade up in front of him. He hung in that position for a moment, the weapon pointed straight forward, before swinging it the rest of the way up in a rapid motion. A tiny globe of light shot out of the end, moving only a short distance from Roxas before expanding to the ground in a harsh white beam that danced over the ground for just a moment before dissolving. Two more followed before Roxas lowered the Keyblade again.

He was almost smiling, Kairi noticed, as she blinked away the afterimage of the magic. She'd been right. Sitting around doing nothing wasn't any good for him. "Can you do the other one?" she asked, lifting the scroll still in her hand to indicate what she meant.

"I can try," Roxas answered, lifting the Keyblade again. "It's kind of got a spin to it..." He swung sideways this time, in an arc, and Kairi felt a slight lift from the magic as another bead of light shot out. This one turned into an orb, not as small and precise as Mickey's but clearly the same shape, and shot off into the sky before vanishing. "Want me to do it again?"

"No, that was great!" Kairi said, standing up and grinning. "You're right, though, the beams do look easier." But if he hadn't done the pearl, she didn't think she would have felt the slight lift of the magic, and something about that seemed to be key. It made a kind of sense to her when she thought about it; Heartless and other forms of darkness seemed to creep over the ground, and light would be the opposite of that.

"Glad to have helped," Roxas said, handing her the Keyblade back, and even when he sat back down with the scrolls while Kairi went back to training, she thought he looked a little better.

* * *

That was all it really took to turn Roxas from someone who just watched their training into an active participant. He didn't know as much about the theory behind Keyblades as even Donald and Goofy, nevermind Yen Sid, but he knew the practical side of them. He was self-taught, the same way Sora and Riku were, but Kairi thought he was better at explaining things. At least he didn't drone on and on like Yen Sid did.

The third day after he demonstrated the pearl spell, Kairi finally really got it, and once she did, it was so easy that it quickly became one of the moves she used in the afternoon sparring. Lea groaned as he sat on the steps at the end of the day, waiting for Roxas to retrieve their afternoon ice cream from inside. "It's unfair," he said, the beginning of the now-routine complaints about Kairi's unexpected strength. "How does someone so small hit so hard?"

Kairi didn't bother hiding her amusement as Donald and Goofy preceded her inside. Goofy shot Lea's back one empathetic look - he'd been put on the defensive by Kairi's strength more than once - as the two passed Roxas. The blond was carrying an extra ice cream this time, and held it out to Kairi after practically dropping Lea's in the redhead's lap.

"Here," he said with a bit of a grin. "Icing on the cake."

Kairi gave him a surprised look, but took the ice cream and ripped the wrapper off before sitting down on the top step. If Roxas was going to invite her to stay for his and Lea's little afternoon ritual, she wasn't going to say anything against it. "Thanks."

Lea didn't seem to object, either, from the way he'd already bitten off a chunk of his ice cream. Kairi wondered how his teeth could stand it. Roxas sat down in between them, on the top step with Kairi where he could nudge Lea's back with his foot. The three of them watched the sunset in silence, until Lea's ice cream was gone and Kairi and Roxas were nursing their last few bites.

Then Lea propped his arms behind his head and leaned back with a sigh. "I'm kinda worried," he said, without preamble. "I thought at least one of those guys would be back by now."

Kairi didn't have to ask who he meant, and she didn't say anything, glad for the excuse of the ice cream to keep silent. She was worried, too. She thought Mickey, at least, should have been back by now, awakened Ventus in tow, even if Riku wasn't. Finding one lost heart among many had to be a difficult job, even for a Keyblade Master.

"We could go look for them," Roxas said, licking the last bit of ice cream off his stick and putting it in his pocket. Kairi gave him a brief incredulous look - Yen Sid said to stay here for training!

But Roxas wasn't training, she reminded herself. He was just kind of around, and Yen Sid didn't seem to especially care about what he did. The old master might have been wise, but he didn't seem to care for Nobodies very much. Roxas must have been bored out of his mind, except those handful of times he helped with their training.

And Kairi was frustrated with waiting. If Roxas was going to go looking, there was no way that Kairi wasn't going to go with him, especially since she was sure Lea was thinking the same thing. And even Yen Sid had admitted that there was a limit to what training could teach them without practical use, that he thought that might have been a part of why Eraqus' students failed the way they did. They hadn't been prepared for the reality of being Keybearers in other worlds.

"How would we find them?" she asked, feeling excitement growing. Donald and Goofy probably wouldn't let them have the Gummi Ship, and Mickey had taken the purple train. She didn't even know how Riku had left.

To her surprise, Roxas raised a hand and, with a look of concentration, summoned a dark portal onto the ground in front of the staircase. He let it disappear after a moment, shrugging under the looks Lea and Kairi were giving him.

"I can still do it," he said. "It's just harder to go somewhere new."

Kairi looked at Lea, finding that he was also fighting off a grin. "We'll need some kind of protection," Lea said. "We only had one coat and I already gave it to Riku."

Really, Lea was the one who needed the protection most, Kairi thought. The darkness couldn't do much to harm her heart - pure of light as it was - and Roxas didn't have a heart to harm.

"There were some fairies here before," Roxas started, in the turned-inwards kind of way he got when he was talking about something Sora had experienced when the two of them were one person. "Maybe they can help."

"Worth a try," Kairi said, nodding, feeling good about having some kind of plan.

"Then we'll find the fairies," Lea agreed, with the tone in his voice that said he couldn't believe he was saying that with a straight face. Kairi was used to hearing that tone when he pointed out that their magic teacher was a duck. After a moment, Lea yawned, then added, "But, tomorrow. I'm too sore to do anything tonight."

"You still have to walk up to your room," Roxas pointed out, and Lea groaned.

"Don't remind me."


End file.
